Today a
maisonette came on the market which could be right my sister and I.
Sure, it doesn't have a garden, but it does have a spacious balcony, with a screen, so you can keep the out when needed. My sister would like to change the flooring of the living room and kitchen floor to something lighter and change the cabinets in the bathroom to something lighter (I think we'll first have to see it, those pictures often have over saturated colors IMHO). And she had the idea to remove the wall in the attic to create a bigger craft/lego space.
For me the only big downside is the heating. Most of the house has normal radiator. Except for one of the bedroom (guess whose bedroom that would be) and possibly the attic. The second bedroom has a fake electric fireplace, which takes up a lot of space. I'm now dependent on an electrical heater (my Dyson fan/heater) and I only put it on when I'm in the room and when I'm awake. It might sound strange but I was really looking forward to having a bedroom with radiators, which would be set on an thermostat and keep the room at a base temperature whether I was there or not and when I was asleep. I always hated it in winter coming into a cold bedroom when I retreat in the evening and wake up in a cold bedroom in the morning.
The price is over €100,000 below our maximum budget, so that's nice.